>> brian: christine and josh is here. we got their big story tonight. we'll find out who the best amateur master chef is. for our decision, wait 'til overtime. congratulaons. >> thank you. >> steve: christine, what kind of pancakes did you make for us? >> i'm making lemon zest that will be dressed with confectionary sugar. >> steve: josh judge. >> a carrot pumpkin with a little bit -- >> steve: we'll try them both in the after the show show. bye. there. good morning, everybody, a fox news alert. another public sector union showdown facing off with the government. teachers in the country's third largest school district officially on strike, walking sidewalk in chicago. leaving nearly half a million children stuck in limbo. that is live look at picket lines in downtown chi-town. we're pack in new york city. martha: here we are back in new york city. it feels good tock home. bill: certainly does. martha: we had a couple

great weeks on the road. good to see you at home. i'm martha maccallum. what about this? teachers in chicago walking out after the contract negotiations said to be so close to a deal, decided to walk out. chicago mayor rahm emanuel called the strike wrong. union officials not backing down. >> no ctu members will be inside our schools. we will walk the picket lines. we will talk to parents. we will talk to clergy. we will demand a fair contract today. we demand a fair contract now. bill: all right. so now, steve brown is live in chicago. what led them to this point? why could they not do a deal, steve? >> reporter: well, it doesn't appear to be pay. what is on the table as far as the system, city school district is concerned a 16% increase over four years in the teachers union president said they're close on that issue but there are other issues they apparently have

not been able to resolve. one of the biggest one is the teachers evaluation system that is being foisted upon them and centered upon standardized testing teachers unions all over the country are not a big fan of. the mayor in his comments last night, he had few over the course of the last week, public ones anyway, said this strike is unnecessary. >> i am disappointed that we have come to this point given all the other parties acknowledge how close we are. because this is a strike of choice. and because of how close we are, it is a strike that is unnecessary. >> reporter: the mayor is the central figure in this. they lengthened the school day when mayor emanuel was elected he ran on platform lengthening out the school day by last hour. way it was down teachers were left out loop. if there is bitterness at the as a result of this dispute that is at core of

it. bill: how many are on the line with you at the moment, steve? how about the students? what will they do without teachers? >> reporter: right here outside the chicago public school headquarters probably better than a couple hundred folks that are picketing. we're told they're picketing at all the schools. interesting enough there is no instruction going on at schools. 140 schools will be open part of the day for kids to go someplace that is safe and to be supervised. also we're hearing about another 50 to 60 churches will also opening their doors for school students today, simply because schools are not in session. so, there is some backup but there is also some costs for the city. kind of squeezing, if the money, in a city budget is toothpaste in a tube, if you close it off at one end usually squirts out at another end. city finances are really tight. bill: one more thing, are there any talks on schedule steve? >> reporter: they're talking

today and had marathon session over the weekend. they could not get issues resolved keep in find with a 16% increase over four years. bill: martha. martha: all summer to work this out. apparently not enough time. background on the financial crunch happening in chicago public schools. the school board projected a $3 billion budget deficit over the next three years. right now public school teachers salaries average almost $75,000 a year. as it stands now, the chicago public school district spends about $13,000 per student. that's pretty high as a opposed to the national average. bill: chicago like so many other cities across the country as a whole. they don't have the money to spend. chicago's budget gap for 2013 said to be $369 million. that is lowest deficit that city has seen in about three years going back to 2009.

martha: let's go back to the election for a moment now. governor lomb any hitting the campaign trail in the key state of ohio. winning that state is crucial for his presidential hopes. take a look. ohio of course a big prize. 18 electoral votes there. 270 is what's needed to clinch the election. he is expected to focus on jobs during his visit following up on the sunday interview when the republican nominee slammed president obama over the dismal economy. >> i think it is a jobless recovery if it is a recovery at all. it really doesn't look like a recovery. you're not seeing kind of job growth that keeps up with population growth. you're not seeing any wage growth. it is not at all what a recovery is supposed to look like. it is not the kind of recovery people had expected. martha: strong words from governor romney there. shannon bream joins us live from the white house. snan none, president obama is placing offense on the sunday shows. what was his line of attack? >> reporter: he is going after the romney plan for tax reform which would

include lowering rates across the board for most americans. romney said that would be offset by closing loopholes and some deductions but romney says to him it doesn't add up. >> it was like two plus one equals five. they couldn't answer questions about how they would pay for $5 trillion in new tax cuts and $2 trillion in new defense spending without raising taxes on the middle class. that is not bold leadership. that is bad math. >> reporter: president went on to continue a line of yesing and reasoning that he has had out there on the stump as he is campaigning talking about the fact that gop wants to give you tax cuts when things are good. when things are bad they have a tax cut for losing weight and help you for your love life. when it comes to math class the romney-ryan according to the president gets a failing grade. martha: that was a line that began with bill clinton in his speech in the democratic convention. another big issue is health care a hot topic on the

trail. what is governor romney saying about repealing obamacare? >> reporter: martha, you remember the day the supreme court upheld the health care law, romney held a press conference said day one i will do everything to get this law repealed. he is tempering that just a little. this is what he says this weekend about the president's health care law. >> there are a number of things i like in health care reform i will put in place. those with preexisting conditions can get coverage. two, to assure the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that covers their family up to whatever age they might like. >> reporter: sounds like governor romney is talking about not throwing out the baby with the bath water, a different approach than we've heard before. he will be in the battleground state of ohio critical for him and the president. the president is here in the white house. he is in private meetings. we do not expect any public events involving the president. martha: a lot of people are asking what he would replace

it with. we're getting framework. a beautiful day in washington, d.c.. bill: they call it september and changes just like that. stunning on the east coast. governor romney's running mate paul ryan was asked about his plans for medicare and medicaid defending reforms for those programs. have a listen on abc. >> it is a system that needs reforming. we don't want to put more money and force more people on a program that is failing and not working. we want to reform medicaid. we're saying don't expand the program as dramatically as obamacare does, keep the funding so the states can fix the problems. bill: ryan argues that the plan would give the states more flexibility how to spend the money ultimately. martha: new campaign numbers show president obama raised more money last month than governor romney. that is the first time in three months the obama camp who had some concerns about fund-raising came out on top. president obama raised more than 114 million, up from 75

million i should say in july. governor romney brought in just over 111 million last month. bill: there was also a tragedy over the weekend involving president obama's motorcade. police in florida say an officer on interstate 95 sunday afternoon preparing to shut down the road way near west palm beach was hit by a pickup truck. the officer was rushed to a nearby hospital where he later died. the white house press secretary jay carney says the president was notified of the officer's death in florida. martha: congress gets back to work today following a five-week summer vacation. the focus for lawmakers, preventing a government shutdown when this years budget ends at end of the month. here we go again. congress is expected to kick the financial can down the road. here we go again did i say that? but here we go again. we have more coming up on the financial mess later in the hour. we'll talk to house majority whip kevin mccarthy.

bill: feels like we never left, right? martha: sort of. bill: did you get sleep never weekend? martha: a little bit. didn't get a whole lot sleep on the road. bill: i'm not sure i did. martha: a little tongue tied today. bill:. bill: president obama's convention raising questions from the left and right whether or not he is more relevant than he was before. fair and balanced debate coming up on that. martha: we have brand new polls in the race for the white house just come into the newsroom. big changes for the president after last week's convention. plus why the upcoming debates become ever more important. bill: also there are new developments in the "fast and furious" investigation. this has not gone away. an arrest in the murder of border patrol agent brian terry. another step closer to closure for the terry family or not? >> i want to know what happened to my son that night. something bad happened out there last night. i know what happened. i just got a gut feeling more than they're telling

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martha: a big development overnight in afghanistan. the u.s. handing over formal control of bagram prison to the afghan government. despite ongoing disagreements over the fate of hundreds of prisoners there. taliban and other suspects also being held at that prison. its turnover is a critical part of the u.s. transfer by 2014 when most foreign troops will leave the country of afghanistan. bill: we have got some breaking news right now. brand new poll numbers in "america's newsroom" showing president obama getting a bit of a bounce out of the democratic convention. rasmussen reports president pulling ahead of governor mitt romney. hear is the number at this moment, five points, 50-45% in favor of the president. conventions are over. candidates shift focus to battle ground states which begin in early october which could be pivotal in the ultimate decision in early november.

larry sabato, from university of virginia. great to see you. >> i'm doing great. bill: we missed each other in charlotte. what do you make of the number? what does it say about a convention bounce? what does it all mean? >> i don't think it means a whole lot because historically bounces fade. takes a couple of weeks for the convention bounce fade i do think it is significant mitt romney didn't get a bounce and president obama did. obama's bounce is modest from historical standards but it's still a bounce. i think the romney people will have to ask some hard questions about why they didn't get an overall bounce though i need to note he did get a bounce in some of the internals. he didn't get a bounce in the horse race. if you're going to vote today for mitt romney or barack obama which one would you choose he didn't get a bounce there. he got a bounce in the personal evaluations. that it went up. his likeability went up, that kind of thing.

but it is interesting. last three times, bill, last three sets of convention the guy holding the second convention got a bigger bounce than the person who held the first convention. bill: does that suggest -- >> that is a good position to have. bill: a good position to have but does it cancel out the first convention? >> to a certain degree. maybe the public memory is short. maybe it's that media coverage on the big networks, not the cable news networks. the big networks has diminished dramatically. remember the audiences are down too. for conventions overall. most of the, most of the speeches didn't draw the same audience they drew four years ago. so there are a lot of factors in here. and those of us who study such things will study this. as far as the significance, bill, i don't think it has a great deal of significance. polls go up and polls go down but the fundamentals in this election call for a close, competitive contest and that's not going to

change. bill: even now given the economy. you say polls are sand castles on the edge of the ocean. explain that. >> yes, waves can come and sweep them away very easily is. bill: we've seen that in the past. there are 3% unsided in this the "rasmussen poll". i think it was 3% in the "gallup poll". >> yes. bill: i can't remember when the undecideds were that low. can you? >> 1996 between clinton and dole the undecideds were 3%. what is the similarity? you have an incumbent president running. people have had four years to judge the incumbent. they're either for him or they're against him. that is basically the way this is boiling down. remember you still have that squishy 3, 4, 5% undecideds who can switch sides that is in addition to the 3% hard undecideds. bill: september 10th now.

we'll be a lot of talk about the first debate october 3rd. how much do the debates make a difference in a close race like this? >> they make a difference, bill, when one of the candidates commits a terrible gaffe. by the way boat sides are happy the final debate is october 22nd. that is weeks before november 6th, the actual election day. that means a candidate that commit as gaffe can recover in the polls in time for the election that is about it. honestly it is partisans tuning in to cheer for their side. yes, you do have a tiny of proportion of undecideds and people who can switch who might switch or decide on basis of something they see in the debate. both sides, take them very seriously, have to take them very seriously. they can make a difference. they certainly did between jimmy carter and gerald ford in 1976 and 1980 between

ronald reagan and jimmy carter. bill: we'll look forward to your analysis. >> thank you, bill. bill: enjoy the sand castles with summer behind us. larry sabato in virginia. martha? martha: there are new developments in the "fast and furious" investigation. police in mexico making a major announcement in connection with murdered u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. the latest details in a live report next. bill: hear it for serena williams pulling off a amazing victory in the u.s. open. she came through with a late charge in the third set. she said she did not think she was going to win at one point. her 15th grand slam final. tonight, andy murray against novak dojkvocic on the hardcourt in queens. [applause] to make someone happy.♪ ♪make just one heart to heart you - you sing to♪

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bill: 22 minutes past the hour now. oil giant bp selling some of its deepwater oil and gas properties in the gulf of mexico. as it struggles to pay for damages of the oil spill in 2010. the sale expected to raise $5.5 billion for bp. the foundation that runs the national september 11 memorial and museum estimate operating costs $60 million a year. a lot of that goes towards security at the site. in arizona a giant dust storm known as a haboob blanketing phoenix in a massive cloud, reducing visibility to a quarter mile and bringing traffic in phoenix to a standstill. martha: all right. we have some bombshell developments today in the "fast and furious" investigation. police in mexico have announced that an arrest was made of a new suspect in the killing of u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. terry as you remember was killed during a shootout in

arizona near the mexico border back in 2010. and investigators recovered two guns from that scene later linked to the botched gun-running sting. doug mckelway live on this in washington. so, doug, tell us more who was arrested and what we know? >> reporter: his name is jesus mesa. his age was unknown. he arrests thursday in the state of sonora in mexico. is one of five men charged with killing border age enterry in a shootout near the mexico border. another suspect is on trial in arizona. his arrest is obviously welcomed by congressional investigators and the terry family but at the same time is does little to quell their desire for more answers on the "fast and furious" operation. chairman darrell issa issuing a statement on saturday. quote, this is one more step towards justice of the family of fallen border patrol agent brian terry. ultimately not only the bandits who fired the shots but those who put the guns

in their hands must be held accountable. the terry family statement. quote, to the extent closure can be realized this is an important part of the process however the key issue of government accountability remains. why was the operation that killed brian authorized and who will be held to account? we may learn tomorrow if the house oversight committee conducts another hearing on the "fast and furious" operation which has been scheduled, martha. martha: we understand there will be one witness, the inspector general of the justice department? >> reporter: the inspector general, michael horowitz. he is expected to release his long-awaited report on the "fast and furious" investigation, a potential watershed moment. attorney general holder is awaiting that report before holding anybody accountable. republicans on the house oversight committee tomorrow when the ig testifies the excuses will end. chairman issa remains concerned that the justice department has not given horowitz full access to all

the information. there is question whether this hearing may happen at all. the ig may not yet be done with that report. if it is not finished the hearing will likely be rescheduled, martha. martha: we'll see if it ever happens before the election. that has been a subject of a lot of conjecture. thank you so much, doug mckelway. bill: there is breaking news outside of detroit. this a west bloomfield township in michigan. a man suspected in the fatal shooting of a 12-year veteran police officer barricading him inside the house. suburban detroit now as police and s.w.a.t. team team surround the home. the officer shot a married father of four children, shot and killed around 10:00 in the evening as he entered a home in the oakland county community of west bloomfield township. we'll have more on this and what's being called a terrible day there in detroit, michigan. more after the break. also? martha: book to politics where the pundits from both sides now writing columns

about whether president obama is still quote, relevant, after his speech at the democratic convention. the comment has the political world buzzing. we'll tell you what that's all about coming up next. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] for everything your face has to face. face it with puffs facial tissues. unlike the leading regular tissue,

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bill: back to this breaking news now. this is suburban detroit. west bloomfield township in michigan. this is what we understand. last night an officer, married father of four

children shot and killed at 10:00 eastern time. now police and a s.w.a.t. team surrounded this home where a man has barricaded himself inside. what we're showing you in the spot shadow with a zoom a robot being sent in on behalf of the police or s.w.a.t. team to go to the front part of this home. a man suspected inside of that home barricading himself inside. suburban detroit. police closed roads around the area. nearby homes evacuated earlier today as officers surround the property. we do not know how this will turn out. we're awaiting more details from police. we'll get the details as soon as we get them here at "america's newsroom." stay tuned on that breaking news happening. martha: all right. on the political front analysts on both sides of the aisle now asking whether president obama is still relevant after his dnc speech shined a spotlight on the voter's role in politics. listen. >> so you see, the election four years ago wasn't about

me. it was about you. [cheers and applause] my fellow citizens, you were the change. [applause] martha: that raised a lot of questions. in a new editorial liberal "new york times" columnist maureen dowd is blasting president obama for that very statement, writing quote, we were the change? we were the change? us? we're so lame. we were naive, brimming with confidence. we never should have let congressional democrats run wild with stimulus spending on pork that didn't create the right type of jobs and she goes on and on in this piece. also a piece by red state, erick erickson's website as well that asks the same question about relevance from another perspective. i'm joined by tony sayag, aide with former vice president nominee jack kemp

and "daily beast" columnist, kirsten powers. welcome to both of. >> good morning. martha: kirsten, start with you. obviously maureen dowd hadn't seen the late latest polls when she wrote the piece this weekend. there were raised eyebrows at the moment. we were the change? we thought the president was the change we were supposed to seek? >> really? i thought he told everybody he was running we were the change we were waiting for. that type of message, exactly that fight. i was fascinated that to learn maureen dowd was filled with hope of barack obama. i don't remember that. i remember making fun of him for un-american for not eating fried twinkies. i think this is such a disconnect from reality column, in the same way that a lot of liberals, she is not only one have been attacking obama's speech when it was extremely effective speech and we've seen, in the polling that

you just referenced that he has gotten quite a bit of bounce out of it. he is even up five in ohio. so i honestly do not know what she is talking about. almost like she was refering to a different speech. not the speech that heard. martha: tony, what did you think about it? >> i think the speech was universally panned in advance of it. "new york times" hardly a right-wing publication says president obama hasn't given a good speech in four years i don't think thursday night was any exception that final night of the convention. you are do see the frustration this is president who can't make affirmative case for his own re-election. michelle obama did as bill clinton and former michigan governor, jennifer granholm. this president is using socialist euphemisms, fair share, fair shot, dividing america, not using hope and change rhetoric he was so powerful for using four years before and able to get elected by such a wide march begin then. this is frustrating true believers the dowds of the left really are.

whatever they may have felt four years ago they have been backing this president up every turn. >> she was never a true wleefr. martha: let me interject here. in the ericson piece written by one of his reporters at red state he talks about whether or not the president is relevant. goes to issues showing up in this maureen dowd piece which is whether or not he was one making the change that he was seeking. and when you look at bob woodward's book it gives a couple of examples that time nancy pelosi was talking to him about the budget. according to woodward's reporting she put the president on mute so that the people in the room could continue their conversation while he was espousing something. she says that is not true. woodward says it is according to his reports. there is another one where john boehner and harry reid are discussing the budget in the white house with president and they say to him, you know what, why don't you leave the room and let us handle it and let us discuss it. maureen dowd raises similar questions whether or not he gave over the reins of leadership to members of congress over the course of

the first four years. that is sort of the basis for this question on relevancy, kirsten . what do you think. >> i having such a hard time following is he irrelevant or is he destroying america? like he is this all powerful socialist, marxist guy who is destroying america and changing, radically changing everything and now he is irrelevant. just very hard for me to follow the criticisms. it is like, republicans are constantly talking about how radical he is. now he is irrelevant. >> maureen dowd is not a republican. >> maureen dowd never supported him. criticized him from day one. [both talking at once] martha: let's let tony address that. the. >> that is a good point. i think he is relevant and i hope he is relevant. that is the essence of our entire campaign. let's be frank about this. mitt romney isn't exactly firing up the right-wing or

the base of this country who understands that we're not better off than we are four years ago. what will hopefully fire them up is the abysmal record on economic leadership we have to use the president as an association with. i hope he is relevant. issue here has he abdicate ad lot of leadership over the last four years? a case can be made for that. bob woodward did it in his book. the bookly ed klein, the amateur. martha: ed klein. two different people. >> ed klein. maureen dowd whatever she thought four years ago has been backing the agenda up for four years. enough is enough. she is over him. >> she was never into him. martha: move on from her for now. >> i don't blame her. martha: next issue is where do we go from here in terms of the debate? does it become more substantive? on both sides you can argue the convention are about rhetoric. painting glowing pictures of the families of two people,

one who wants to continue to be president, one who wants to be president. do we now as we enter into the debate season we get more brass tacks what has been accomplishes kirsten? >> yeah. if the romney campaign has their way, yes. the reason obama's speech was so effective, i know it was panned by a lot of people. it was very effective speech. the reason it was effective he used the word choice 21 times or choose in that speech. he set it up to make this a choice, not a referendum. what the romney campaign wants they want a referendum exactly what you're saying, martha. they want to talk about his record. they want to say no, this is choice between us and romney and we're better than romney i think he wins that debate. martha: we have to leave it there. you. >> even people who want a choice zoom to want to be choosing romney. this is very modest convention bump. martha: we'll discuss the whole choice versus referendum issue. thanks for setting that up at top of the hour.

bill: even more vigor than they had in tampa. well-done, guys. if your neighbors were making noise all night you might call the police, right? what if your neighbors ran a church, a house of worship where some say the noise there is sinful? martha: stick around for that story. the president says he is willing to make a deal to keep america from going over a fiscal cliff. we're at that point again. where does this all stand? we'll be right back in "america's newsroom" with more. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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hikes, period. >> keep in mind that the trillion dollars that we cut, you know, was a painful exercise. you know, there are some programs that are worthy but we just can't afford right now and i'm willing to do more on that front. we have an obligation to make sure government works. there is still waste there. there are still programs that don't work. there are still ways to make it leaner and more efficient. i'm more than happy to work with the republicans. what i have said in reducing our deficits, we can make sure that, we cut 2 1/2 dollars for every dollar of increased revenue. >> that's the deal they turned down, mr. president. >> well, that is part of what this election is about. bill: let's get reaction now from the other side. house majority whip, california congressman kevin mccarthy. good morning to you and welcome back to "america's newsroom." i'm more than happy to work with republicans. what do you think of that when you heard that? >> look, we've heard that

many times before but then it seems to be rhetoric. as republicans we're more than willing to work with this president. we have tried. from the minute he came in we invited him from the very beginning to our conference. we laid out where we could agree to do something different economically. we wrote a plan and handed it to him and he followed nancy pelosi. we have been trying to work with this president and we want to work with this president but you have to be serious. you can't keep adding to the debt. first thing, you got to pass a budget and you have to create an economic policy that puts people back to work. it can't be the same old rhetoric just for campaign purposes. bill: when house republicans back it up with a budget that was passed. you bang on senate democrats a lot because you haven't seen a budge jet out of the -- budget out of the senate for three years. here is paul ryan striking a similar note. >> i've been more than happy to work with him but he hasn't been acting like that. what we learned in this presidency he says one thing

and does another. bill: is that the case? >> that is the case all along. there is a lot of broken promises. he says one thing, you like the policies, you like your health care you will be able to keep it that is not true. he it is not republicans he just needs to work with. he needs to work with his own party. his own budget hasn't got a democrat to vote for it. that is how far back they are. we believe we have the responsibility number one to pass a budget. that is what the house republicans have done. the senate should pass one as well. let's come together find where we agree and work together to put this country back on the right path. bill: what did you make of the comment cutting $2.5 in spending for every dollar of revenue brought into the government? >> first, i look at overall policy. what puts us economically back to work? there are so many tax policies there that harms us to be competitive worldwide. from reconciliation. you look at the corporate tax rate and others. what puts people back to work. first look at policy and stop looking at politics. he is making his whole

campaign and everything he does is campaign. let's put people before politics. bill: examine this for a moment. >> sure. bill: the president wins in early november. the fiscal cliff is still out there because it doesn't appear to be much movement on a deal until after the election, perhaps before the first of the year. what happens to that fiscal cliff? >> well, hopefully we don't hit that fiscal cliff. we've seen what can happen with it. that is why the house passed different versions. we have a couple things go deadline regardless who wins. we have sequestration. you have tax increases looming before us. those all have to be done. people are trying to hold until after the election. the house passed items that deal with them. send them over to the senate. we should deal with this so the american public see what happens. i think we should not increase taxes. extend them for a year and reform our tax code. bill: to be clear, there are no active negotiations among both parties, are there? >> well listen to what the

white house said months ago. they said months ago they were done working with congress. they want to get out on the campaign trail. his own press person said that after we went through the last phase. that was months ago. we want to work together. we say we're back. have the president come back and we can start working and so nobody has this uncertainty or looming cliff before us. bill: let me turn the argument around. if governor romney wins in november, what happens then? >> i think if governor romney wins, you have a new day, because you have both sides sitting down and here's an opportunity. here is somebody governor before that had to work with the other side, came from a democratic state, had to work with both sides. we stop the tax increase. we stop sequestration. extend for a year and we sit down and reform government. we blow up the boxes the president talks about, agreement there. we create a tax system that let's america compete. let's us move forward and a fair one. closes loopholes. shrinks it, broads it. bill: i understand the

policy argument you're making there. if governor romney wins would you support doing no deal until he is sworn into office? which would essentially mean, a three-month punt or a six-month punt into 2013 on these big issues? >> i think i think is best make sure we don't hit the cliff. we can extend for a year. we done this in the house. we extend tax cuts for a year and only do it if you do reform of entire tax code and put a framework to start putting people back to work. if we have a brand new president, let him lay out his agenda where he wants to go. bill: kevin mccarthy, these are big issues. it will be a very busy fall after the election into the new year. we appreciate your perspective. >> thanks for having me. bill: to our viewers, hemme hemmer@foxnews.com is the e-mail. there is our e-mail, foxnews.com /americasnewsroom. and bya.

as we move forward trying to decide which direction we take we were just discussing there. onward. martha: onward we go. the issue of wealth has been used as a weapon for governor mitt romney in this campaign. being wealthy in the white house is nothing new. historical perspective on that is next. bill: there is a big showdown in one of america's biggest cities, teachers in the country's third largest school district now officially walking the picket line. they are on strike. a fair and balanced look today at issues from both sides. >> evaluations, they haven't worked out how -- conditions at all. so they're going to evaluate us on a process before we know what will work? haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. wahlalalalallala! smooth, but crisp. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8.

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bill: a church in georgia apparently bringing down the house next door. neighbors say the

international house of prayer is rattling their windows at all hours of the night. the church is open around the clock, offering 24 hour services. and both sides talking about the clamor in their neighborhood. >> you can hear it over the washer, dryer, dishwasher, tv, all going at the same time. >> don't want to call 911 for this. i think they need to do something about fixing their sound system. >> we're not having a rock concert, you know what i mean? we're just trying to have a church service. bill: we should point out our reporter from the atlanta affiliate did not hear anything while she was there. adding she believes the church has been quiet because of all the media attention surrounding this story. hallelujah, huh? >> in our devotion to this country we wish to keep it strong and we wish to keep it free. it requires at this critical time the best of all of us. [applause]

martha: well, that was then. massachusetts senator john f. kennedy at the 1960 convention. kennedy was obviously from a wealthy family, political dynasty. he faced a lot of questions about that when he ran. governor mitt romney's candidacy is putting that issue front and center in the 2012 race. william la jeunesse is looking at history of wealth in presidential elections. he joins us live from los angeles. hi, william. >> reporter: martha, you know the election is supposed to be about policy and performance and vision yet democrats claim because of wealth romney, quote, doesn't get it. that he hasn't walked in the shoes of most americans. but that standard many american presidents have not. >> there is $100, 110. >> reporter: privilege and wealth are nothing new in washington. so why do democrats criticize mitt romney's? >> romney has somewhere between 20 and $100 million in your ira. >> he has no idea how good he has had it.

>> reporter: not long ago, being rich didn't matter. >> the first family is off and away. >> reporter: trust funds, sheltered childhoods, summer homes and boarding schools, jfk and fdr had little in common with the common man yet democrats didn't demonize their wealth. >> it was a different era. so much of what a candidate did and was privately was considered off limits. >> reporter: lbj grew up middle class but acquired land and cattle for an estate worth millions. eight years ago, then senate candidate barack obama never mentioned john kerry's privileged past. >> john kerry believes in an america where hard work is rewarded. >> reporter: elite boarding schools in europe, son of a wealthy family who married into a fortune. at nearly a billion dollars, kerry would have been america's third richest president. >> the main reason why democrats go after mitt romney for his money is, first of all, a kind of class warfare. >> having wealth create ad

private equity firm is not a great place to be coming from right now. >> reporter: does wealth make you a bad president? history suggests no. our wealthiest president was a businessman who married well, george washington. followed by one who inherited almost everything he had, thomas jefferson. the point is there is no evidence that wealth dictates empathy, success or failure, martha. this is politics. martha: very interesting look back, william. thank you so much. william la jeunesse in los angeles. bill: eventually they all get wealthy anyway, don't they? brand new polls with shocking results. why a majority of voters say president obama's four years in the white house just don't matter. brit hume on that to examine. martha: but the president said in his convention speech he would never turn medicare into a voucher system. not 24 hours later announcement from the health and human services department. that's next. >> no american should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of

insurance companies. they should retire with the care and dignity that they have earned. looking back,

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martha: fox news alert. brand-new polls show that the president may be succeeding in making this race more about a choice between the two men than a referendum on his successor failures as president in his first term. some are saying that that could hurt mitt romney. that's how we start a brand-new hour on a monday of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. according to the hill, check this out. when asked this the election us about president obama's job performance or a choice on who would do a better job, 61% says it's about the choice between the two men, only 34% say they consider it to be a referendum on mr. obama's job in the white

house. martha: who better to ask about that than brit hume our fox news political analyst who joins me now. what do you make of that poll? >> it may be true that the obama campaign has succeeded in turning this into a choice election rather than a referendum election. the problem is i don't think you can tell that from that poll. people don't think of elections unless there is a ballot initiative as a referendum. it's a political, technical term almost. i wish the term referendum hadn't been in the question. it would have told us more. when you put that together with the rest of the thins in this poll both sides have some things to cheer about. martha: that's a very good point. if you had said to people, you know, do you think it should be based on whether or not the president did a good job as president that might have been a better way to ask that question. let's make a look at some of the internals in this poll as you suggest and see what they say.

this one is interesting, it says what is your view of president obama compared to 2008 when he what's elected. 24% say their view has improved greatly. 14% say it's improved slightly. you have 52% that think worse of him or much worse. >> that is an interesting number, more than half have a worse opinion of of him. i would say problem below all the people who voted for john mccain, or nearly all of them -r, 46, 47% of the election threat feel worse about him. the number is over 52. you think some voters that were for him have turned against him. that is constant with the other polling we've been seeing which is why we think this election is close and his nation-wide lead is small. martha: let's say people are

viewing this as a choice election and president obama has succeeded of putting the past in the past and saying do you like me better or the other guy better, what does mitt romney have to take away from that? what are they not doing to close that gap? >> it's a little hard to say at this point, because what we need to do, martha, it seems to me is wait for the aftermath of the convention to subside. it seems pretty evident that the obama campaign and the president got a bounce out of their convention that was significantly better than what mitt romney got out of his. this is partly i'm sure a function of the fact that the conventions were back-to-back, and you only had a couple of days for it to form before the next group was in there pounding away. four years ago we saw a tremendous advantage for the team that went second. sarah palin of course made a big splash and that helped the mccain team and the mccain team came out of that ahead. i think we ned to let this settle down a little bit and see if the bounce endures and fit does mitt romney will have his

work cut out for him. he seems to me to have put himself forth as a man who is a reasonable alternative. i don't think most people think he's an extremist, or aboun or a or a boun bounder. martha: maybe two weeks down the way we'll get a better picture of where things are. >> the person ahead in mid department rarely loses. martha: we'll watch that. thanks so much. good to see you. bill: talking about paul ryan right there he's quick to pounce on the dismal jobs report on friday. the number of jobs created last month hardly enough to keep up with population growth. the vice presidental tphopl kneeing saying tha vice-presidental nominee is saying that it's proof that president obama has set america on the wrong path. >> i think president obama has placed us on a path to decline.

four budgets, 4 billion-dollar deficits. the highest poverty rates in a generation. one out of six americans in pofr re. it's the 43rd month of unemployment above 8%. forever person who got a job last know nearly four stopped looking for work. that is not a good direction, that is the wrong direction. bill: congressman ryan back on the road in the state of orga orgerooerg oregon where he is prepping for a debate. martha: there may be no better evidence than the unemployment situation. some 23 million people were either unemployed or understan or under employed in august. some 15%. the overall jobless rate stands at 8.1%. the other rate is people who are not looking any more.

that makes as paul ryan said 43 straight months of 8% and up unemployment. that is the longest stretch ever recorded in the history of the country. >> mitt romney heading to the battleground state of ohio again today. warning that another four years under president obama will mean more of the same. >> if this president is reelected you're going to see chronic high unemployment continue for another four years or longer. you're going to see low-wage growth if any growth at all. there will always be this fiscal calamity at our doorstep, the kind that you're seeing in europe today. there is no question in my mind, if president obama is reelected you're not going to see our unemployment picture change dramatically. you will not see us kraoe create thcreate the jobs we need. bill: i imagine you'll see a lot of ohio over the coming 57-odd

days. carl cameron, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. bedford, massachusetts having left bellemont, massachusetts where mitt romney was at his residence, we will be in mansfield where there will be an event today. for weeks the polls have succeeded that the rates have been tied in the buckeye state for this upcoming race. no republican has ever won the presidency how the weurs win first wink in ohio. democrats know that. polls suggest it's a virtual tie but mr. obama has had a slight edge within the poll's margin of error. in the wake of the convention, you were talking about that with brit there, the romney campaign's pollster says look, don't buy all the hype about all the polls, it's like a sugar high and it's all post convention stuff. and in the romney campaign's

view the race has not changed structurally. the romney campaign recognizes that the president did get a bounce and if they got one it was over shaded by the democratic national convention. yesterday mr. romney was doing debate prep at his headquarters in boston, a little bit of additional cramming. the campaign says when he's not on the campaign trail talking to voters he'll be raising money or cramming for the debate which starts essentially three and a half weeks away from now. bill: what about money in the final sprint, carl, what are you picking up? >> reporter: for the first time in months president obama has raised more in the preceding month than mitt romney did. the president and the democrats have raised $114 million last month. mr. romney and the rnc raised about 111.5. it's so close it really doesn't matter in terms of cash. what really does matter is how much is on hand, the romney

campaign says they have 168 million in the bank. telling lee the obama campaign won't say what they have in the bank but it's not expected to be as much. the romney campaign has been tpaourl a frugal the last few months am -pg up on ad campaigns. i think the romney campaign has more in the bank and may be able to close the difference in the polling. bill: results in ohio from swaeut, this was 2008. president obama won it by a difference of 5 points. ohio could be close again, like it was in 2004 with john kerry and george bush this was a state decided by about 118,000 votes in the end. late into the night in 2004

george bush winning a second term based on the results in ohio that night. so we'll look forward to seeing how many times these guys are in ohio. you think about these battleground states, and you and i living in new york and new jersey we may not see a single presidential campaign ad over the next few months. martha: that's true. saw quite a few in florida. bill: quite a flew. the eight, nine, ten battleground states, these folks will be just be hit over the head with this stuff. martha: i think even the president claimed where he was somewhere where he saw too many of himself in ads when he was trying to watch a came. there is that. how about this the romney ryan ticket weathering repeated tax by the president over medicare. are those attacks accurate? the romney campaign will respond to that next. bill: an immigration experiment that costs u.s. taxpayers millions of dollars is coming to an end. we'll tell you why there will be no more free flights home for people coming to the u.s. illegally. martha: it is a public union versus a broke city.

chicago teachers are out on strike, and 400,000 children have no classroom for them to go to. what does the union want to go back to school? that is coming up. >> we have sent you a very detailed proposal, one that i think is very respectful of our teachers, is right by our children, and is fair to our taxpayers. i am disappointed that we have come to this point. n't argue wih nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more pcessed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i kn is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself.

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u.s. taxpayers nearly a hundred million dollars is coming to an end. it provided free flights home for people caught entering the u.s. illegally. with more than 125,000 people flown to mexico since 2004 the plan was designed to save lives and help folks get back on their feet, but with 40 year lows the

fed says they are pulling the plug on that program, at least for the time being. martha: president obama repeatedly attacking the romney-ryan medicare plan during the convention, claiming that it will raise costs for seniors by thousands of dollars. mr. obama cited a report from a liberal advocacy group that says that. is that true? we have the senior adviser to could the romney campaign with us today. good to have you here today. >> good to be with you. martha: the president warned senior has if the romney-ryan plan were to go into effect it would end up costing seniors thousands of dollars over their lifetime. the estimate in the plan they cited was $125,000 in some cases over the course of their lifetime. >> you know, martha as you pointed out that study was done by a left-wing organization, written by an ow obama loyalist. the president has attacked mitt

romney on his plan over the past couple of months. they said it's misleading, dishonest and inaccurate. the key here is we have to recall, what has barack obama done? why doesn't he talk about what he has done medicare. when he came into office it was headed to ban to bankruptcy. all he has done is take $750 million from it. he enjoys all the perbs but he doesn't seem to be interested in doing the heavy lifting required of the office. martha: for your estimates of the romney-ryan plan how much would it end up costing seniors? the voucher plan gives them 5, $6,000 to purchase a plan on the free market in a competitive environment, correct? >> yes. it will give them -- it's going to be a competitive market. you also have the option to stay with what we have there now.

the key is that what mitt romney is going to do is going to protect all seniors that have the plan now. if you're 55 or older nothing changes. but we're going to strengthen and protect it and make sure it's there for those who are 5 a and younger when they come of age and are in need of it. there is always -- it is going to be a better plan, we are going to make certain that we take care of the people that need this plan, something that barack obama has failed to do. we will make certain that under mitt romney seniors will be better off in four years than they are today under barack obama. martha: there is a plan that has been put forth by hhs, under the obama administration which some are saying sounds an awful lot like a voucher program, because the poorest 2 million to receive medicare would be pushed back to the states, and the states would then give them vouchers to sort of purchase managed care plans within those states.

some are saying that the president has basically come up with his own voucher plan, even though he is very critical of the voucher plan that exists -- they won't call it that, but under romney ryan. >> i'm sorry, martha i have not seen that, but i do know that that is without the question the way we need to go to make sure it is solvent in the future. it's going to be bankrupt right now in 12 years, completely bankrupt. there are different ways of handling this. mitt romney has been very bold, has put his plan out there, and he guarantees, and i will guarantee it and i know that americans will be able to look forward to seeing something, or he is going to get down to the grass -- exact all the nuts and bolts of this plan and make certain that he strengthens it so that it is there 12 years from now, where as barack obama has done nothing but rob it of $7,716,000,000. martha: the challenge for both sides is to get very specific on that so the folks can evaluate

before they head to the ballot box. thank you, bay buchanan. bill: there is a member of the special u.s. operations speaking out for the first time. what a former navy seal that took out osama bin laden says about that night and that operation that is so different than what we've heard before. that is coming up. martha: scooter versus truck, why this rider is lucky to be alive this morning. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

martha: 22 minutes past the hour. firefighters in oregon battling a a wildfire around mount adams, scorching hundreds of acres and forcing scores of camps to flee from safety.

kodak announcing a management shakeup. the legendary photo company filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. moms and dads, here is one for you. letting your baby cry a little bit while you try to get them to sleep may be okay. a study published today in the journal of pediatrics finds no long-term psychological problems if you just let them cry it out a little bit. you can't run in there every two seconds. they learn if they cry they get picked up. i'm past that point thankfully. bill: you are, right if no more diapers. what was your strategy. martha: you've got to let them cry a little bit. it's hard, grin and bear it and let them cry a little bit. bill: i got you. maybe that's my problem. martha: that your parents picked you up a lot. bill: psychological problems. martha: they let you cry for hours. bill: former navy seal giving his first major interview since writing a controversial tell-all

book about the raid that took out osama bin laden on 60 minutes, have a listen. >> was the plan to kill osama bin laden or capture him before you went in? >> this was absolutely not a kill only mission. it was made very clear to us throughout our training for this that, hey, if given the opportunity, this is not an assassination, you will capture him alive if feasible. >> that was the preferred thing. >> yes. >> t >> to take him alive if you could. >> yes, we weren't there to assassinate somebody, we weren't there to murder them, this was hey, kill or capture. >> the parents of another navy seal killed in combat in afghanistan also speaking out today about what they say has been the administration's failure to protect the identities of special forces. catherine herridge live on this story. what was the impact, catherine, good morning. >> good morning and thank you.

this couple say their son was filled with anger and uncharacteristic fear after vice president joe biden revealed two days after the osama bin laden raid that the navy seals were behind it. >> eri >> er. >> air ron called me and said you need to wipe your social media clean of me and any of my buddies. he says, mom there is chatter and all our lives could be in danger including yours. >> how did you feel about your son being identified. >> we expect better out of the high ups of our government. i believe what the administration did then, i believe it was criminal. >> reporter: they told fox there was no need to identify the seals, this is a group that prefers to get on with their job without any public recognition, bill. bill: what are we learning if anything about the reaction of the seals, catherine. >> reporter: we asked them isn't it possible that the vice

president identified the seals because the administration and the entire country was simply so grateful? >> i can tell you one thing, seal team 6 did not want to be identified. so it wasn't that they were trying to be proud of them, because those men do not need a pat on the back. they don't work for that. di >> did aaron tell you that team 6 was angry? >> yes, everybody that he talked to, yes, they were very angry. >> it was like the rug was pulled out of them. >> isn't it fun for americans to go back and forth, was it the seals or was it this. , you know it was our special operators. >> reporter: it changed everything for them and the families especially when their on son was one of the seals killed in a helicopter crash. martha: president obama has been going off governor romney overt issue of medicare.

>> their voucher plan for medicare would bankrupt medicare. our plan strengthens medicare. no americans should have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. martha: those comments were made just this last weekend, but is the president now guilty of going back on his word days after attacking governor mitt romney for doing the same thing. bill: a terrific panel on that coming up here. guess who is demanding access to iran's nuclear facilities and what israel said is their new red line fort for for teheran. [ male announcer ] for the dreamers...

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bill: so this issue is now getting a little sticky. a promise from the white house, from the president when it comes to his healthcare overhaul may be fading away just days after he made the statement. a government pilot program could be preparing to move 2 million americans onto the same kind of voucher system that he pledged would never see the light of day, remember? >> i will never, i will never turn medicare into a voucher. [cheers and applause] >> no american should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. they should retire with the care

and the dignity that they have earned. bill: so here now "wall street journal"'s economic writer steven moore and fox a teamer marc siegl to talk about what we have learned now. first to the doctor, what is this pilot program all about? how was it set up? >> what this has in mind is to take the poorest patients with both medicare and medicare, because they are disabled or very poor and shift 2 million of them in 18 states, to ship them to a managed care program where a private insurance will cover them. but the key here is mandatory. because, you know, under congressman ryan's program it was not mandatory. the idea is you could choose to use your money to buy a private plan. and the problem with mandatory, bill is your doctor may not actually take that private insurer. the state could shift you manned tore lee from your medicare and medicaid this a doctor like me accepts onto a managed care that i might not accept.

it's going to cause all kinds of hoff srobg. bill: you can't opt out of it. what do you mean all kinds of havoc? >> because again the biggest problem is networks. does your doctor take this insurance? do they work with other doctors who take this insurance? you have to keep the doctor you already have in that network. any kind of shift puts pressure on the doctor to take an insurance that he may not actually work with. that's what i like about the voluntarily aspect of the ryan plan. it gives you the option to shift insurancess. you go to your doctor and say, do you take this insurance, do you take that insurance. what do you think of this hmo? that is the key here is choice. there is no choice if the federal government is mandating something. >> from the medical perspective we get that. from the economic perspective, steve, obviously money drives this. what is it in. >> you played that clip a few minutes ago about the president saying that republicans want to bankrupt immediate toda medicare. i think the truth is medicare is going to bankrupt the country and the budget.

it's already $500 billion a year. if we stay on the course we are on and do nothing to reform it it will be close to a trillion dollars within ten years. it's a pacman in the budget that is eating up all our fiscal resources. what i find ironic about this story, bill, remember those ads, you've shown them on your show, with paul ryan with the grandmother in the chair being wheeled over a cliff. it sounds like the person who is driving that wheelchair in this instance is president obama. i think the doctor had it right, the key difference here between the two policy proposal is the paul ryan plan is mandatory, you can stay in traditional medicare as a senior if you wanted to or move into this other plan. any states that would adopt this plan it would be required and you wouldn't have a choice. bill: you think vouchers have been begin a bad name in what sense? >> i really don't like the word voucher at all. we are talking about medicare

advantage, a program that is already popular where basically an hmo gets involved, takes the medicare dollars and instead of covering 80% of your medical costs to go to our doctor it covers a hundred percent. these are popular programs, it's not really a voucher, it's about privatizing. with the institute of medicine coming out with a report last week that the $750 billion a year of waste in the healthcare system, the only way to get rid of that waste is to streamline things, improve efficiency, and you better believe that private solutions work for that, because you want to try to preserve a profit. if you don't have a profit motive you're not going to become more efficient. bill: how would that change the economics here? would that bring on greater competition and drive prices down, is marc onto something? >> i believe so. i believe there is a lot of wisdom to what paul ryan wants to do. the details that i've seen so favre what president obama is talking about seem to make some sense except for the fact that it's not something you get to choose. but, look, we know we can't stay

on the course we are on, and i'll give the president a little bit of praise here, that the idea of maybe bringing some competition into these plans will drive down costs and make it more affordable for everybody. bill: we reached out to hhs and also the white house, still waiting a response on that. it will come some time today we do believe and when it does we'll give it to our viewers. interesting development there. thanks to both of you. >> thank you. >> thank you, bill. martha: the u.n.'s nuclear chief is demanding immediate access to a key iranian military site as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says his country and the u.s. are in talks about setting a red line for iran. if teheran crosses it it could mean a military response. boy, let's talk about this. leland vittert is in germany. what is thjerusalem. what is the plan. >> the israelis are asking for

the americans to say if iran continues to do this on x date we have the option to use military force to stop iran. so far the united states has declined to do that. secretary of state hillary clinton has publicly said in the past few days she does not endorse the idea of a deadline on the iranian nuclear program. the iranians have played their cards very well, they continue to have these nuclear talks on the one hand, on the other hand they continue to enrich uranium, they are continuing forward with their nuclear program. the rhetoric here is from the israeliss, we are willing to delay a military strike, which the united states has said they want the israelis to do, if america makes some kind of public promise about an attack. so far the words from secretary clinton though don't seem to show the united states is willing to do that, martha. martha: so, there has been a lot of discussion about perhaps an imminent attack coming from israel to takeout some of those facilities. where does all that stand now? >> reporter: if you read the israeli papers in the past month

or so they said an attack was virtually guaranteed before the u.s. elections in november. that rhetoric has been dialed down. whether that is intentional as a head fake or that is really going on is yet to be seen. it's very clear that the israelis need to strike sooner than the americans do because the israelis have a much, much more limited long-range bombing capability. either way you can get a feeling from the ground here by what is in the papers. this is one of the main israeli dailies i want to show you from this weekend. this is a picture of all the israeli pilots from an elite squadron. it says it's in our hands. that's where the israeli public is having its feelings. back to you. martha: thank you very much. leland vittert in jerusalem. bill: an nfl's rookie's debut didn't go the way he planned. derailed before he could take the field. cleveland quarterback brandon

weelan was blindsided by the stars and stripes. before he new it he says the flag bearers were on top of him or he was underneath them. he and the equipment manager trapped for about ten seconds. he said it felt like forever. the browns would lose by a point to the eagles. martha: that is funny knee learned a lesson on day one. >> it's like a parachute, when it comes down on you. the teachers in chicago are walking the picket lines today instead of assigning homework. educators at the nation's third large school system are on strike. >> we have about 350 social workers for 400,000 students. [inaudible students.

[inaudible] inaudible ] martha: kind of hard to hear with the shooting in the background. what do they want and can kansas city give it to them. bill: a schooler goes bumper-to-bumper with a much larger vehicle. how one woman miraculously survived this hi. i'm henry winkler.

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left off, so we can get our kids back in the classroom. our kids, the kids of chicago, belong in the classroom. martha: yes they do. i think everybody can agree on that, right? according to the 2013 budget estimated teacher pension costs will rise by 3%. hospital and dental insurance will jump by 9% and salaries will be decreased by just over 3%. we're going to make some sense of those numbers right now for you. mayor rahm emanuel said the district offered to raise teachers' sal rows and they turned that deal down. john fund is the national affairs columnist for the national review. and lani hansen is with us. why would they turn down an increase in their salary when most people can't expect to see any increase in this economy.

>> absolutely. our students and children deserve to be taught in the classroom. one of the issues that the chicago teachers are very concerned about is class size. classes are sometimes over 40 and in chicago teachers aren't even allowed to grieve or complain about those conditions. as a parent i can tell you that nothing is more important to me than my child being able to learn in a smaller class. right now in chicago they are also striking about the fact that the teacher evaluation system is supposed to be based on test scores. as we've seen here in new york city, often those evaluations based on test scores are completely unfair and our best teachers are thrown out of the classroom because it doesn't show up on the test scores. martha: you know we've got a major problem here because they are spending a lot of money on the schools in chicago, $13,000 per student, which is above the national average and only 15% of the fourth graders are proficient in reading and 56% of the students who come into high school end up graduating. john, those are some pretty

sorry numbers. >> well, look the real issues here are, there's been a lot of new money poured into the chicago public schools in the last five years, but 71% of the new dollars went to teacher retirement costs, and that is unsustainable. you can't have new money for classrooms if you have the benefits exploding. chicago teachers pay only 3% of their salary for full healthcare benefits. chicago teachers are the best paid of any school district? the country. the average salary is $76,000 before benefits. the average chicago family that pays the taxes for those teachers earn $47,000. that is an immense gap. i understand the teachers are stressed and may have legitimate grieve rancess. they were offered a 15% increase over four years. martha: why didn't they take that. >> i don't know what they were

offered in terms of salaries. one of the things they are fighting over is job security. the mayor plans to close-up to a hundred schools and fire teachers instead of improving those schools by providing them with the conditions that they need. hundreds of chicago schools have no libraries, have no art programs, have no nurses or counselors, we shoulding investing in those schools and improving them rather than closing them down and firing thousands of teachers. martha: 30 seconds, john. they are pouring more and more money into the education funding and they are getting fewer services for it. >> chicago schools are very well funded. the question is where does the money go? unfortunately previous mayors have basically given the teacher unions everything they wanted in terms of benefits, in the negotiations. now the well money is dry, it's gone. we have to cutback. now we can have more money for libraries, we can have more money for facilities but we're going to have to scale back the benefits for at least new

employees. if we do that we won't have to fire people. and that is the problem if the union won't give anything on benefit give backs then you have to fire people because there is no alternative. >> can i say something. martha: quickly we have to go. >> there is something called tax increment funding in chicago, the money that is supposed to go to the schools. instead the mayor is giving that money to his cronies for their business interest. that is one of the issues. chicago and illinois have one of the worst inequitable funding systems in the country. those schools are underfunded. when you see that kids aren't graduating they need better conditions not worse conditions. >> $13,000 a year? martha: thank you to you both. we hope the kids can get back in school quickly and the adults can come to some sort of agreement. bill: "happening now" rolz your way orolls your way. good morning, jon. jon: new polls show a bounce for president obama after the democratic convention. can he hold on to the lead moving into the debates? we'll look at history. plus, a breakthrough in the treatment for a common form of

lung cancer. could drugs already available help tens of thousands of americans? and did o.j. simpson's legal team tamper with key evidence in the murder trial of the century? the explosive new charge from one of the prosecutors. it's all "happening now" at the top of the hour. bill: we'll see you then. thank you, jon, looks like a packed show again. thanks, jon. he saved his family from a house fire six years ago. when he ran and grabbed a fire extinguisher he was all of six years old. now at the age of 12 he's saving lives again. we'll tell you how. >> mostly calm but i was acting very quickly. >> he's as modest as they come. he's just an amazing kid. [ mother ] you can't leave the table

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bill: there is a new effort to crackdown on human trafficking. voters in california will decide on what is being called one of the toughest laws in the country. douglas kennedy has more from our newsroom here in new york. you checked this out, what did you find? >> reporter: yeah, bill human traffickers almost always exploit the weak and vulnerable. one former victim is fighting back and she's using california's ballot box to do it. [sound of siren ] >> i was constantly at risk of rape or murder. >> reporter: when she was in just 8th grade she started living on the streets in sacke sacramento, shraf california. she became a if i can of human trafficking. >> at a very young age you were found by a pimp and sold for sex on the internet throughout the state of california. >> that's correct. i ran away from home at the age of 14 and there were quite a few

things that made we really vulnerable to being sexually exploited. >> reporter: she is now a practicing christian and is pushing a ballot measure here in california that would tkr dramatically increase the penalties for human trafficking. she's managed to convince some pretty deep-pocketed californians to back her. she is the former privacy chief for facebook. you spent over a million and a half dollars of your own money. why are you so interested in this. >> it's important. >> reporter: it would increase sentences for human trafficking from five years up to 15 years to life. >> people engaged in variety prostitution who would never see the inside of a skwraeurl lookinjail are looking at insane amounts of time in jail. >> reporter: the critics say you'll clog the criminal justice system with people fighting very

long sentences. what do you say? >> i think people who exploit women and children online should be serving long sentences. >> reporter: he says the internet can be used to help as well as to harm. bill: we'll see how it goes in november. thank you, douglas. martha: both political conventions are now in the history books. which candidate got the biggest post convention boost? a fair & balanced look at that question coming up next. bill and i will be right back. copd makes it hard to breathe,

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martha: here is a great story. a 12-year-old boy has saved the lives of his family twice. his name is patrick canney he was in the car with his father and sister. he noticed his dad was having a seizure. he steered the car to safety. >> he started going really slow. he wasn't registered anything in his mind.

i knew something was wrong. i turned the car into the breakdown lane and shut it off and cruised a little bit until the car shut off. martha: what a smart little boy. this is not first time he was a hero. he ran into his burning family home when he was six to get a fire extinguisher to put out a fire. bill: he is only 12. imagine what he does at 18. we're glad to be here in new york. martha: good to see everybody at home. we're back home for a little while. "happening now" starts right now. jon: welcome back. right now brand new stories and breaking news. jenna: fund-raising totals just out for the president and governor romney. mr. obama outraising his opponent for the first time in months. the latest numbers and what it means for the race ahead. israel and united states discussing a red line for iran's nuclear program. what is that red line and what happens if it is crossed? we'll discuss that wit kt